WITH JUST a week left for the declaration of the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) Advanced results, students of IIT Bombay have arranged a two-day (September 3-4) virtual ed-conclave where a panel of professors from IITs across India will help aspirants make informed choices on which engineering branch to choose and from which IIT.

Students at the IIT Bombay said that the competitive trend among streams often eclipses opportunities and individual interests in the courses for students while choosing a stream.

This information gap and the anxiety led to a virtual Ed-Conclave organized last year by Techfest (IIT Bombay’s annual technology festival).

“We all come from the same background where the focus has been on JEE and so on physics, chemistry, and mathematics. Seldom there is clarity on different branches of engineering available, what it contains, and the prospects after pursuing a degree. There are a few popular branches such as Computer Science and Electronics among others, but before following the trend it is important for students to make an informed choice, along with knowing about lesser-known branches, which may intrigue them,” said

Pavitra Pilli, media head for the Techfest, which is organizing the virtual enclave. Pilli said that the forum is open to all, including parents.

The conclave will feature multiple sessions on different branches of engineering offered at different IITs.

Twelve professors from four different IITs are going to conduct these sessions followed by a question-and-answer session with Professor Deepankar Choudhary, Organising Vice-Chairman for JEE-Advanced in 2015 and Founding Member, Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA), which governs the IIT admissions.

Students can participate in the interactive session by registering on https://techfest.org/edconclave or can visit live YouTube streaming.

A total of 16,598 seats are up for grabs in 23 IITs, including 1,567 supernumerary seats for female candidates.

The number of candidates, who appeared for the JEE (Advanced) is 1,56,089 and the results are scheduled to be declared on September 11.